SAUDI ARABIA WIRES U.S. $100 MILLION AS TRUMP PROCLAIMS M.B.S. INNOCENT
Meanwhile, Turkish officials have unearthed even more grim details of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s alleged murder.
Over the summer, the Saudi Arabian government promised the Trump administration $100 million for the U.S.’s efforts to stabilize parts of Syria liberated from the Islamic State, a coup for
Donald Trump, who regularly complains about other countries not coughing up enough money on defense. But despite the pledge, one official involved in Syria policy
told The New York Times that it was unclear when, if ever, the money would actually materialize in American bank accounts. But as luck would have it,
just this past Tuesday, it did—the same day Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Riyadh to get some answers on the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist and dissident who entered the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey on October 2 and was never seen again. Some people have dismissed the notion that the two events are connected—“The specific transfer of funds has been long in process and has nothing to do with other events or the secretary’s visit,”
Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, told the
Times. But others aren’t so convinced!
